bubamara association of people with disabilities...bubamara association of people with disabilities...

Bubamara Association of People with Disabilities

Bubamara

� Association of People with Disabilities -NGO

� As an organization, we gather people with various disabilities:

� Physical

� Intellectual

� Mental

� And their combinations

� Our mission, except providing informational and technical support for disabled is their active social integration, while we are helping them engage in community facilities and raising their life quality and independence

Bubamara in numbers

� The Association exists for about 35 years

� Employs about 200 people through different projects

� 1517 members

Bubamara

� We care for equalization of rights of the disabled in the fields of education, health, social policy and employment

� So far, we have been engaged in various projects:

� Personal assistance service for the most severe types of disability

� Institutionalization prevention

� Educational assistant service for children with disabilities

� Social Entrepreneurship – Buba Bar

� Psychosocial support in rural areas

� Palliative care

Personal assistance service for the most severe types of disability

� The main aim of the project is to enhance the social integration and to improve the quality of life for 18 persons with the most severe types of disability, through the personal assistance service for 24 months. For thatpurpose, there are 18 personal assistants employed and educated.

� Those assistants provide all kinds of support for disabled – help them with the basic needs – food, hygiene, house chores, free time, hobbies, fun, etc.

� It is essential for some of our members who lack everyday support and by living in the rural areas are excluded from all community events and services.

Personal assistance service for the most severe types of disability

Institutionalization prevention

� This project is being continually implemented from 2010. and it ensures professional support for children with disabilities and disabled people through free services –occupational therapy, psychologist, half-day stay and transport

� Many of our members are from rural areas and they are often exposed to poverty and social exclusion

� Every day 15 – 19 h (organized time, workshops, cooking day, transport for medical services and private needs, etc.)

� This project was recognized by our members and it is very important for them

Educational assistant service for children with disabilities

� The main aim of the project was to equal the opportunities for complete inclusion of students with disabilities and to raise their life quality.

� Educational institutions pointed out that 79 children with various disabilities need additional support

� By the implementation of this project, it was planned to employ educational assistants who were previously distanced from the labor market and to reduce the unemployment VSC

Social entrepreneurship project – Buba Bar

� The most famous of our projects, that still waits for the implementation

� In everyday contact with our members, we noticed that they are often in need for some tasks to do, for some engagement and responsibilities.

� Their right to work is often violated due to disability and social exclusion

� Because of poor educational conditions in the past, they are often unemployed or employed in the lower payment class professions, what may result in poverty

� So, we came up with the idea inspired by some good practice examples from abroad – to open a bar that will employ people with disabilites who can and want to work.

� We applied to several calls for proposals to realize different segments of the project (reconstruction of the building, interior, sports and entertainment facilities,…)

� Later we expanded the initial idea to bar with a bowling club

Social entrepreneurship project – Buba Bar

� We want to employ people with disabilities in Croatia

� We were also lobbying for the existing legal regulations amendment

� The problem: - Termination of the disability allowance by employment

� This legal regulations put the people with disabilities in a passive role – they are receiving the allowance and therefore, shouldn’t work

� It’s important to mention that the allowance shouldn’t be spent on their everyday costs, but the cost that arise from disability

� So, our goal was to change that regulation and to encourage the disabled to work and earn money – what we have succeded

� We are currently doing the interior decoration and equipment purchase and planning the opening in several moths

Buba Bar

Psychosocial support in rural areas

� This project was the first to recognize the need for a daily care by a mobile nurse and a psychologist for the persons who suffer of chronic non-contagious diseases, for old and helpless and persons with disabilities, all from the rural areas in Vukovar-srijem County

� We wanted to achieve their better psychosocial status, greater independence and the relief of the family members

� This was the base for the other two projects of palliative care

Palliative care projects

� We are also the lead partner organization for two cross-border palliative care projects

� The main aim of the both projects is to ensure better health and social careof palliative patients and their family members – by establishing the mobile teams (nurses, doctors, social workers, psychologists, clergy, etc.)

� By analyzing the conditions on the „outfield”, we concluded that palliative care in Croatia, especially in the East region is not developed enough and that many people with disabilities are under the higher risk of inadequate care and the lack of services needed.

� Although health care is not our main domain, we decided to find partner organizations that provide health care and to enable creating the mobile teams, hoping that the state will take over and to make the service sustainable.

Statistics for 2017. – The report on PWDs in the Republic of Croatia

� 511 850 PWDs registered (of 4,171 milion)

� 307 934 men and 203 916 women 60/40

� 11.9% of the total population

� 45,52% in the working age group

� The most common types of imapirments, based on Croatian Disability Rights Act are multiple impairments (29,6%), mobility impairments (29,5%) and mental disorders (25,3%)

� The most common psychiatric disorders are neurotic, stress related and somatoform disorders

Vukovar-srijem county

� 18 844 PWDs

� 12 357 men and 6 487 women 66/34%

� 10,5% of total population

Croatian Employment Bureau Report

� 2017.

� 1,7% of total number of employed are PWDs

� Areas of employment – manufacturing, providing accommodation, preparing and serving food, public administration, compulsory social security, administrative and auxiliary service activities


� Most of the employed persons are 20 to 24 years old (23,9%) and have secondary education – mostly 3-year high school including skilled work

� Also, most of them were registered up to a year as unemployed


� 6 294 PWDs unemployed – 3,7% of the total number of unemployed

� Most of them with high school, 20 to 24 years old

� 69% are unemployed for more than a year

� Regarding the type of disability, the most common are intellectual disabilities (33,1%), combined difficulties (23,6%), physical disabities (18,3%) and psychic and organic disorders (7%)

Active employment policy steps

� Public works - program is based on socially useful work initiated by the local community or civil society organizations. The aim of the measure is to include unemployed persons into the activation program for socially useful work.(73,3% of PWDs)

� Employment Aid - government grants given with the aim of encouraging employment of the unemployed and are available to profitable business.(19,4% of PWDs)

� Professional training for work without establishing a working relationship -Unemployed persons up to 30 years who have no more than 12 months of internship for which they have been educated and reported to the Bureau for 30 days; unemployed persons who are obliged to take an expert exam (4,9% of PWDs)

The Ombundsman for PWDs report

� In 2017. 31% more citizens turned to Ombudsman for Persons with Disabilities

� The largest number of complaints - the area of social protection, followed by areas of work and employment, access to goods and services, pension insurance, health care and education

Problems regarding expertise

� Sector of the single expert body of the Institute for Expertise, Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Disabled Persons

� It is worrying that in some branch offices (Osijek, Varaždin) the expertise lasts for more than a year due to the lack of physicians of specialist experts who are missing in the sector by about 50

� Another problem - inadequate spatial conditions in which expertise is practiced in almost every office

Problems regarding expertise

� It is imperative to approach the finding of different types of engagement of experts, in cooperation with local self-governments and to ensure proper spatial conditions

Professional rehabilitation

� Professional Rehabilitation Centers in Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek and Split still warn of a variety of difficulties in the implementation of professional rehabilitation services

� Primarily, the problem is the mismatch with other systems and legislative arrangements related to this area.

� For example, a retirement system insurance is aimed at retirement and removal of disabled people from the labor market instead of their activation and return to the world of work.

Professional rehabilitation

� Since we are still talking about a large number of people with disabilities, with the remaining working abilities, who are outside the employment relationship, it’s an urge to empower a system of professional rehabilitation, and do the key changes in legislation to enable disabled persons to re - enter the labor market and prevent further disturbance of their remaining work and general abilities

The difficulties in implementing professional rehabilitation services

� lack of clear long-term financing of CPRs, resulting in the inability of long-term business planning and the completion of a multidisciplinary team with the necessary professional staff; all centers do not have the same support and financial support of their founders, which causes inequalities and instability in the work of the centers,

� non-compliance of regulations regulating the field of professional rehabilitation; the pension insurance system still rests on a compensation model and is geared towards retirement and the removal of people with disabilities from the labor market instead of their activation and return to the labor market;


� According to the pension insurance regulations, professional rehabilitation can only be proposed if the work ability reduction is more than 50%; therefore they propose to start much earlier with measures and thus prevent further degradation of work ability

� The fee paid by the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (hereinafter HZMO) is low and insufficient for life during the process of professional rehabilitation


� the period from the onset of disability to the referral to the professional rehabilitation process takes too long – that is demotivating for potential users of professional rehabilitation,

� professional rehabilitation is not prescribed as an obligation of HZMO, employers and insured persons, and it is a general interest to be compulsory; Because it is also demotivating for referring, as well as for entry into professional rehabilitation services,

� some training can not be done parallel with work, though it would be crucial to enable retention


� Many users of HZMO (CDPI) who do not have the desire or motivation continue to work and hope for retirement -> due to long-term sickness and numerous work-ability assessment procedures, have lost motivation for work or retraining

� There are no social inclusion programs that could involve many users who currently, for various reasons, are not ready to enter the world of work


� In the case of cooperation with employers, they come across a variety of employers' attitudes towards the professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities

� Additional problem is the lack of adequate IT system – it slows down the processs


� To solve the lack of motivation problem, medical rehabilitation could be performed parallel with professional rehabilitation

� Additional problem - Disinformation of employers on the work potential of persons with disabilities at the national level (and the stigma)

The Ministry of Labor steps

� The Ministry of Labor and Pension System has initiated the process of amending the Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities, in which the key changes will be: Direct inclusion of unemployed persons with disabilities in professional rehabilitation services; extension of the use of funds except the basis of financial compensation tothe sustainability and development of professional rehabilitation system, and the transfer of CPR's founder rights to the Republic of Croatia.

Suggestions

� Proffesional Rehabilitation as mandatory for long-term patients

� Social inclusion programs for persons estimated as temporary unemployable, to ensure maintenance and improvement of work and work-social skills and abilities

The National Strategy

� The National Strategy for Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities from 2017. by 2020. in the field of professional rehabilitation, recruitment and work is envisaged in 2017. to start the activation process of temporary unemployable people with disabilities in work-social inclusion programs through project implementation.

Final conclusions

� The inclusion of all persons with a residual working capacity in the world of work should be the national interest, but also the right of PWDs to work in accordance with Art. 27 Convention on the Rights of PWDs

� The professional rehabilitation service must be in the same way available to all people with disabilities

� In order to avoid the possibility of using this services to employees depends on the will and the employer's decision and his current business opportunities (eg finances).

bubamara association of people with disabilities...bubamara association of people with disabilities...

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